1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a digital composite machine and the like capable of performing a plurality of periodic processings and setting the time interval of each periodic processing, and to the control method and program thereof.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, in general, the uses of a digital composite machine have been growing popular in the environment such as an office and the like. In this digital composite machine, there is a machine that has not only a scanner function, a printer function, a facsimile function, and a copier function, but also, being connected to a network, provides various functions such as a function of transmitting and receiving an E-mail, a function of transmitting an image data read by a scanner as an attached file of the E-mail, a function of transmitting the read image data as an ifax through the Internet and the like.
In such a digital composite machine, processings such as a received mail check processing for a POP server of the E-mail itself, a check processing for the POP server of the ifax reception, a polling processing for time synchronization for an SNTP server and the like are periodically performed according to time interval set up in advance. The user can set up the time interval (frequency) for executing each of these periodic processings from an operation panel and the like.
In the meantime, in recent years, low electric power consumption of office equipment has been solicited for the protection of environment.
To realize this object, there is a conventional composite machine available in which, when a standby state time where no operation is made for a fixed period of time continues, a power source supplied to each resource within the apparatus (such as a print unit, a reading unit, a display unit, a control unit and the like) is stopped, and a control of shifting to a power saving mode is performed, thereby realizing the low power consumption of the apparatus.
However, while the digital composite machine is mounted with various functions which periodically operate as described above, at the executing time of these periodic operations, a periodic processing is performed by returning to the normal operating mode from the power saving mode.
In the conventional digital composite machine, it is considered that a different time interval is set up for each of plural periodic processings, for example, such as a polling processing performed for a POP server of an E-mail reception for every 30 minutes, and a polling processing performed for an SNTP server for every 60 minutes.
At this time, for example, assuming that the polling processing of the E-mail reception is set up at the time 10:00, and the polling processing for the SNTP server is set up at the time 10:15, as the entire apparatus, these two types of the periodic processing are repeatedly performed at the timing of 10:00, 10:15, 10:30, 11:00, 11:15, and so on.
Here, in the digital composite machine set up for the periodic processing, a technique, in which shifting is made to the power saving mode when a fixed time standby state as described in the Related Background Art continues, is applied, and assuming that that fixed time is twenty minutes, it is obvious that, during 10:00 to 11:00, the shifting to the power saving mode is not possible due to the execution of the periodic processing.
Thus, there has been a problem in that, by the time set up for each of a plurality of periodic processings, an interval of the timing for performing the periodic processing as seen from the entire apparatus becomes narrow, and for this reason, the shifting to the power saving mode is unable to be made, thereby lowering power consumption efficiency.